Fish Across Maryland Continues

June 26th - school has been out for a week now and my life has been just as busy. This week I have been playing chauffeur to my two sons. With my wife being an eleven month employee of our school system, and I being a ten month, and the fact that our two sons had two different places to be on three different mornings this week, I have put many miles on the car. But truth be told I wouldn't have it any other way. Despite the amount of driving I have been doing I have had a chance to get out on the water for some fishing. Surprisingly though all of my fishing this week has been freshwater on Lake Lariat in southern Calvert County. But I'll save stories about those trips for another time.

This entry is about getting the chance last week, June 21st and adding another county to my quest in trying to catch a fish in each county of the state of Maryland. That day I took some time to drive over to the Myrtle Grove Wildlife Management Area in La Plata, MD. The area is home to shooting ranges, trails used for hunting during season, and two ponds/lakes that are home to many species of freshwater fish. (Although I only caught a couple of them while I was there.)

I put my kayak on the water and began to paddle around the outskirts of the pond. We had had a big rain storm the evening before so the water wasn't very clear. I figured the edges would hold small bluegill or crappie since I don't care about the size of the fish I catch for the challenge. While paddling past a small group of lilypads I made few casts and pretty much got hit each time. Eventually I was able to get one to take my bait completely and I reeled in a small bluegill.

I spent some more time in the area trying to catch a couple more, but unfortunately nothing would take. I began to paddle back until I got to the launch and had to wait for another angler to load up his kayak. I decided to try a small Matzuo crank bait. A couple of casts and I noticed that I was getting more grass than hits. So I repositioned the kayak into a slightly deeper area and made another cast. As I reeled it in it was hit by a small little bass.

Again to me size really isn't important. I unhooked it and returned it to the water to bite again.

This brings my count of Maryland counties to eigth: Calvert, Charles, Howard, Prince George's, Saint Mary's, Wicomico and Worcester. The year is almost half over and I am not even half way finished, but again I don't have a limit on time that I want to achieve this goal. I just want to give it an honest effort. Until next time … tight lines.

A couple of "Firsts"

It's been a couple of weeks since my last post in my fishing adventure. School/work has been coming on strong with the end of the year coming up, and my weekends have been spent driving more than fishing, due to visiting Salisbury each of the last two weekends. I have been able to hit some of the local ponds not too far from work, or while in Salisbury. My time there has been "productive" since I have been catching quite a few panfish. But as for time on the water on my kayak, the trips have been few and far between.

A couple of weeks ago I did get a chance to venture out on the kayak with my youngest son. Of my two sons he is the one that enjoys fishing the most. But like any person who fishes he prefers to catch over just waiting for a bite. Nevertheless he and I were successful on our outing on Lake Lariat in southern Calvert County. In fact he was able to catch his first fish of the season, a 12 - 14 in largemouth that was fun to watch him bring into the kayak. You'll have to pardon the photo as he, at the time, was in dire need of a haircut. He caught another bass about the same size as well as a couple of nice bluegills. Everything was returned to the water in hopes to catch them again.


Now as the title of this one says there were a couple of "firsts" recently. The second one was a little more interesting for some. While I was in Salisbury this past weekend, one evening I was trying my luck at panfish on one of the small streams that lead away from Leonard's Mill Pond. I was doing okay catching a few green sunfish when another angler walked by.

I spoke to him and he to me as he continued up the trail. I decided to pack it in and started to walk back to the car. I didn't know that he had turned around as well and had caught up to me. I introduced myself, and he said his name was Robert. He said that he came to this spot pretty much everyday, since his job afforded him a bit of time. He told me about a spot where he had caught larger bluegills, and I followed to it. I didn't have any luck there, but I'll try it again another day. We talked about other fishing we had done, and he just matter of fact mentioned that always looked for fish longer than 10 inches, because "that's where his ruler started." I thought it was odd until I noticed that he was rolling up his sleeve to show me his tattoo on his forearm.

His fishing "measuring tape" was a tattoo of a ruler, which started at the tip of his middle finger, going from 10 inches up to 22 inches. It was at that point I realized that I had met my FIRST TRUE FISH NERD, other than myself. I thought it was pretty cool.

Until next time … tight lines!